The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1887-12-03
Correspondence Baltimore County Onso".
surENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


/
val, urderstood that q cold sensation
....,ss consciousness more rapidly than one OF
.ssssntkJ The exact time required. to perceive
:. N baa lately been measured by DR.. Goldscheider
~ Rerlin. Contact with cold point was ieit on
sh face after 1876, on the arm after Is, on the ao
domen after o. and on the knee AFTER 20, nun
dre3tbs Of second. From hot point the sen
satien was felt on the same surfaces aile: -,
= --AAssssl- SRsnaelix
The immense practical value of meteorology has
been strikingly shown at Calcutta. The director
ofthe Bengal Meteorological Department became
aware of the existence of terrible storm in the
middle Of the Bay Of Bengal five or six days be-
fore it reached the land and gave timely danger
signals to keep vessels from leaving the river at
Calcutta. One steamer failed to heed the warn
ing, and foundered with loss of about 900 lives
Among the six or seven vessels kept safely in port
were two steamers bound over the same course as
the lost vessel, and with about an equal number
ofpassengers, whose escape from death was un-
doubtedly due to the wisdom.of the weather-fore-
casters.
PHYSICAL PHENOMENON.
curious ''dead space" in chemical reactions
has formed the subject of communication by
Herr Liebreich to the Berlin Academy. In this
space the reaction going on in other parts of q
uniformly mixed liquid does not occur, or occurs
late or in less degree In the test-tube decomposi
ton of choral hydrate by sodium carbonate
yie1ulnS CnlOfOIOrm-d surface layer OF an elgntn
OF an inch or less remains clear while Immediate
lyH below the solution is turbid form minute
globules of chloroform. Contact with air is es-
sential to the formation Of the dead space, and
when the air is removed the reactions are uniform
throughout.
POWER OF A WINDMILL.
One of the largest wind motors in existence is
used for driving Touring machinery at Great
Yarmouth, Eng. 1t has four sails, which are 10
feet9 inches long by IL feet inches wide, and
extend 100 feet from point topoint. With wind
CPS miles an hour, the windmill has IS horse
power, and will easily make 120 barrels of -four
in "a hours. The building containing the four
ing apparatus and supporting the motor is of IL
stories, stands SO feet above foundation, and is 35
feet in diameter at the base, and 16 at the top.
SANITARY EFFECT OF RAIN.
"We commonly abuse our climate" writes Mr..
W. Mattieu Williams, con account of its humidity.
This is great mistake. Frequent and moderate
rain, such as constitutes the characteristic of
British climate, is the most effective of all sani
tary agencies. 1t cleanses the ground, and, what
is far more important, it cleanses the air. The
anmonacal and other exhalations, continually
rising from decomposing animal and vegetable
matter, are all more or less soluble in water and
are largely removed by gentle rain. Besides these
it absorbs and carries down into rivers and thence
to the sea the excess of carbonc acid exhaed from
our lungs, and produced by our fires and lights.
De Saussure found that shower of rain removed
about Is per cent. Of the carbonc acid from the
air over Lake Geneva. Also that there was less
over the lake than over the neighboring meadows
and the great elevations of the Alps where there
was no water. The atmosphere over the sea con-
tains less than one-fourth of the quantity in that
over the land. Far away at sea the quantity in
is inappreciabie, and at given place on the coast
it varies with the wind, increasing as it blows
from the land and rice All these facts show
IL Ill "a.
bonic acid in decidedly practical degree. In
densey populated districts this is Of considerable
Importance. The. difference is perceptible to the
senses after long drought as the common ex-
preston refreshing showers indicates"
MIscELLANEoUs.l
During five school years the director of the
Royal Deaf-Mute Institution at Copen hagen has
made, semi diurnal measurements of the height
and weight of the children under his care, and he
has deduceda number of Condolences between
variations in their weight and thosein the tenn
perature of the air.
The veteran Russian anatomist, Wenzel Gruber,
who recently celebrated the fortieth anniversary
Of his appointment in the medical school at St.
Petersburg, has superintendent the dissection of
10000 bodies and has written $40 memoirs and
pamphlets on anatomical subjects O
haistone with nucleus of gypsum, probably
sucked up in wstef-spout fell iaia recent shower
in France. nTIeAf -
The Importance of soft water for domestic rur-
poses is ilustratedsby the experience of q large
London asylum, in which change from hard to
soft water has resultedin an estimated annual
saving in soda, soap, labor, ete., of more than
$4,000.
The remains Of no less than 59spseies of flower
ing plants from mummy. wrappings EGYPT have
been identified. The flowers have been wonder
fully preserved, even the delicate violet color of
the larkspur and the scarlet of the poppy, the
chlorophyl in the leaves, and thes sugar in the
raisins, remaining. 4 a.r
Grand Duke Nicholas, of Russia, is credited
with being an enthusiastic student of natural
history, and with new work on the entomology
of the Caucasus. LLt
Another of the new diseases which follow in the
wake Of civilization has been reportedfrom Berlin,
where two telegraph operators have been affected
The fnger-nails have fallen out, after another
though the persons have been otherwise good
health. The curious affectioniis ascribed to the
constant jar and pressure on the finger produced
by working the Morse key.
OF the cephalopods, comprising the cuttle-fsh,
the octopus or devl-fsh and their allies, thirty
two species new to science were discovered by the
Challenger expedition, according to a report just
finished. Some of the cephaiopods have alength
ofsixty feet, and they appear formidable as well
as singular creatures.